Series continues working on small medium and larger canvases.  Larger ones are proving a bit hard to resolve.  I am definitely in my comfort zone with smaller scales.  Large paintings are overrated anyway (I think)

The light has changed.  Today was the first day of 'Spring light'.  I was able to work under natural light in the studio for most of the afternoon and the wood-burner wasn't required.  Brighter, warmer - good.
First snowdrops and crocus sighting on our walk today. I also saw three dead foxes (with gunshot neck wounds) near the sheep enclosures.  I think they are lambing and the farmer must have shot the foxes last night.
New paintings going ahead well although I will need more red ochre pigment before the week is out.
Happy days.

Yesterday I collected framed work and headed to Tunbridge Wells ('Disgusted' or 'Royal' - whichever way you like to look at it)
I had an appointment at the Redleaf Gallery to meet Nicholas Hills and to show a selection of new work with a view to exhibiting there.  i had been directed there in January by another gallery in the Pantiles.  Funny how your opinions change when you see your work in different surroundings - and eventually I came to the same conclusion as Nicholas about three of four double tray-framed new still lifes.  They seemed to work as a group of three and not four.  Somehow the fourth one didn't 'fit' and it was decided to be eliminated.  

I directed my daughter to Jack Wills (her favourite shop) and the Pantiles one is something else!!  The window dressing is all about painting en plein air and the inside is beautifully shabby chic with the ricketiest stair cases.  We met up afterwards and had a bit of a shop.  Finally, after three or more years, my daughter wanted a COAT!!  This is a good sign and I was really pleased she asked.  Now she is coated, which means she has grown up a bit!     

The framers postponed collection for a day, which I consider lucky under the circumstances of a day out of action with hideous cold-thing.  I say a day out of action, when really this means a day of less action.  I had to deliver work at a gallery yesterday and have a couple of visitors in the afternoon, it was a slow and quite difficult day.  today was also slow, and I managed to make a gallery submission and a gallery appointment for tomorrow and drop a few paintings into tray frames.  They should dry overnight and should be ready for taking to gallery tomorrow.  I hope to have a quiet w/end to fully recover from whatever horrible lurgy I have.  I was going to Frome, but now this will have to wait till March.  

The best thing about going away is (often) coming home.  Home is home, studio is studio, work is work and some paintings needed re-working.  Time away means coming back and seeing things anew.  It means seeing that chaos has built up in the home and seeing work that hasn't quite got there yet.  Todays work was a mix of revamp (last months) and new oil on panels.  Seeing the progress (below) has made me feel that I must have come back invigorated.  I always come back feeling really happy that I don't live in an inner city, and how claustrophobic inland cities make me feel.  Walls, walls, walls, fences, more walls, more fences, regulations, cctv, grey, oppressive, people inanely going about their business..... you have to question the futility of a lot of it.  MOre positively, the snow has gone and there are signs of snowdrops, tulips and daffodils emerging.  These paintings have a theme of new spring flower growth.  Hoping temps warm up soon, bones must thaw out soon.  

All things admin take the joy out of life.

I seem to have an (almost) infinite amount of canvas and panel which is allowing me to work without curbing my enthusiasm.  Lots of these had been prepared last year and were and I had forgotten about them.  Having this amount allows me to move freely from one surface to the next uncompromisingly.

I am moving into a more and more abstract style as I go.  I have a theory that abstraction is the natural progression of the painter. Partly that age and outlook (wisdom, experience etc) have an influence on approaches to making an image; and partly that the 'less is more' philosophy becomes more attractive after years of production.  I enjoy the simplicity of it (though this is not to say that making abstracted paintings is easy) and the instinctual aspect of making shapes in relation to real everyday objects (extracting the essence, if you like)  I am drawn to red ochre (pigment) dark grey, duck egg blue and a marine blue as my four basic colours to work with.  It allows for juxtaposing warm and/or round shapes with cool and/or square shapes.  I am thinking in terms of cool/warm and angular/curve.  I think with these principals in place an abstracted image is about finding these balances within the frame.  (new theory that I seem to have come up with)
That was a bit 'geeky'!  I must be careful not to indulge in too much 'artspeak' - which has the tendency to sound highly pretentious and extremely dull to those who don't really understand it.  At the end of the day, I cannot deny that I am an 'art geek' (geeks are not exclusively technological or scientific - even though they are mainly associated with these disciplines) 
It's the Chinese new year this month (have the celebrations passed?) Year of the Dragon which is said to be highly auspicious. That makes me feel optimistic.  Snake year 2013.  My year.  I see good things.  in Chinese astrology is is believed that Snake children bring luck to a family.  

There's always something validating about going to the framers.  The paintings make their first trip out of the scrutiny of the studio and into someone else's range of vision.  It makes me a bit nervous, with new work that hasn't been out of the studio.  I took four of my tiny ones, the framer made cooing appreciative noises each time I placed one on the counter (which was enough for me to feel less apprehensive) Discussed a particular type of frame, called a double tray with board and I know they will look great once presented so well. I am looking forward to getting them back next week.

I had to visit a couple of shops for a mid term treat or three.  Once treated - and having seen the outside world for a few hours, I look forward to getting back into the studio for the rest of the week.  Next week work to deliver and submissions to make.  Weekend looks like a foray into the Big Smoke.  Only to the RA Hockney show.  The rest of the horrors of the place I will try to avoid.  I should consider ear plugs and a surgical mask.  The place smells bad and the noise pollution is enough to cause insanity.

Lots of snowfall Saturday night, snowy Downs walk Sunday.

Snow is in the air.  There's every chance we will be snowed in by tomorrow or Monday.  The sky is nearly white and the Downs sound hollow and still.  The work in progress must wait till Monday.  I never work on a Sunday.